From the Bookshelf of Weird Fiction…

Metamorphosis and Other Stories

Franz Kafka,

John R. Williams (Introduction)

Start date: July 1, 2020

Finish date: July 31, 2020

Why we're reading this: This book won our poll for July Group read.
[close] This book won our poll for July Group read.

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Jul 03, 2020 Catherine McCarthy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

First let me say that having read this whilst lying in an ancient, overgrown churchyard on a summer's day may have influenced my review slightly. Not that churchyards are featured in the book, but the setting and the fact that I was surrounded by all kinds of insects certainly suited its mood.
Having said that, there were moments of humor, too, which I enjoyed.
The Metamorphosis is a strange read because you're never certain how much is based in reality and how much is pure imagination or perhap ...more

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May 05, 2020 Greg rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The story of the prodigal bug man hearkens back to another allegorical tale written by Mikhail Bulgakov; Heart of a Dog, in which a dog is transformed into a man. Although Bulgakov's story aims to be a metaphor, the world is still fleshed out and the characters feel real. Thus, when the dog is transformed into a man, I actually felt attached to what happened to the man-dog, as well as the doctor who created him- I was interested to see that crazy dog roam around in the already established settin The story of the prodigal bug man hearkens back to another allegorical tale written by Mikhail Bulgakov; Heart of a Dog, in which a dog is transformed into a man. Although Bulgakov's story aims to be a metaphor, the world is still fleshed out and the characters feel real. Thus, when the dog is transformed into a man, I actually felt attached to what happened to the man-dog, as well as the doctor who created him- I was interested to see that crazy dog roam around in the already established setting.

In The Metamorphosis, the main character Gregor just wakes up as a bug. Immediately. To be fair, it does create a very cool opening sentence, but it is at the cost of the reader lacking any sense of connection to the characters. To me, they all felt like puppets on strings and I didn't really care what happened to any of them. They all sounded the same, and most importantly, nothing about it felt real. It felt like a contained bubble universe controlled entirely by Kafka in order to convey his rage with society or his family or whatever he had going on which led to him writing this novel. Everything just felt like a fragile, black and white fantasy.

I do believe that Kafka is a great writer, and part of the problem here is that his excellent writing style doesn't shine through the translation that I read. I don't think any translation of German will be perfect and showcase the specific choices made by the author in their original language. I feel that if I read the German version, I would be able to sense more of what Kafka was trying to focus on. But as it stands, the story problems stand out greatly, and there are fundamental issues with the story, and most noticeably with the lack of a soul in any of the characters.

If you tell me that my close friend has turned into a bug, I would be invested in what happened to them. Meanwhile, if a stranger turns into a bug, I would just ignore it. The titular dog in Heart of a Dog felt like a friend, since a portion of the book was spent following the life of this very same stray dog before he became the Soviet Frankenstein. Ultimately, Gregor in The Metamorphosis was a stranger to me. Anything about his past seemed more to be a commentary on society and / or Kafka's desperate whining about life as a whole, rather than actual character backstory. Because of this, I felt completely detached from the events of the book, which by the way, drags on for way too long. Once you get past the shock of such a unique concept, you'll find that nothing really happens. You could summarize it as; "He is a bug. His family does some stuff and reacts. He is a bug. Life sucks. He is a bug." There is no soul.

And to be clear, I don't agree with Kafka's message at all. He's not helping anyone. If you find yourself one morning having been transformed into a bug, fucking own it and be the best damn bug in the world. Leave behind your human brethren and find more of your bug-kind. Start a bug colony. Take over the world. Don't just surrender to the whims of humanity. Don't be afraid to be yourself. ...more

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